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Thursday, 5 May 2016

ONE IN THREE USE INTERNET FOR NEWS

Nearly one in three people surveyed in Swaziland said
they got their news from the Internet at least ‘a few times a week’.

One in three also said they used social media for news
during the same period.

The figures were released on Tuesday (3 May 2016) by
Afrobarometer as part of a World Press Freedom Day report.

Afrobarometer surveyed 36 countries across Africa.

It reported that 32 percent of those surveyed in Swaziland said
they used the Internet for news, ‘a few times a week’ or ‘every day’.

It also reported that 33 percent of those surveyed in Swaziland got
their news from ‘social media such as Facebook and Twitter’ a few times a week
or every day.

Swaziland’s mainstream media are heavily censored. All
radio, except one Christian station, is directly controlled by the Swazi
Government. One of the kingdom’s two television stations is also under
government control.

King Mswati III rules Swaziland as sub-Sahara Africa’s
last absolute monarch. He in effect owns the Swazi Observer which is one of
only two daily newspapers in the kingdom. He also in effect owns two of the
four newspapers that publish at weekends.

Critics of King Mswati’s government have taken to
social media in recent years as part of their campaign for multi-party
democracy in the kingdom.

Afrobarometer, commenting on the trend for social media
use across Africa, reported, ‘Distinct demographic patterns are evident in
media use by different groups. In general men, urbanites, youth and the better
educated obtain news from all sources more than women, rural dwellers, older
people, and the less educated.’

Afrobarometer is a research network that conducts
public attitude surveys across Africa on democracy, governance, economic conditions
and related matters.

In 2014, a
report jointly published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa and the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) found young people in
Swaziland were turning to social media sites such as Facebook because it allowed
them to enjoy ‘the fundamental rights to freedom of expression’ that was denied
to them elsewhere in the kingdom.

They also bypassed mainstream media such as
television, radio and newspapers in favour of social media. The report called Youth
Usage of Social media in Swaziland concluded, ‘The young people have welcomed the emergence of the
social media because, among others, it affords them an opportunity not only to
inter-act but also enjoy the fundamental right to freedom of expression
provided in Section 24 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland adopted
in 2005.

The
report added, ‘They can now easily and freely bypass the
severely censored mainstream media to access, produce, distribute and exchange
information and ideas.

‘More importantly, the social media has afforded the young people an
opportunity to speak in their own voices, not mediated by the mainstream media.’